Frame for miter-boxes.



PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904.

F. H. RICHARDS.

FRAME FOR MITER BOXES! APPLICATION FILED 00T.2. 1903.

3 SHEETS-SHBET 1.

N0 MODEL.

PATE'NTBD AUG. 2, 1904.

P. H. RICHARDS. FRAME FOR MITERBOXBS.

APPLIGATION FILED 0OT.2. 1903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2,

N0 MODEL.

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Wznejsses;

PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904.

1?. H. RICHARDS.

FRAME FOR MITER BOXES.

APPLIOATION FILED OCT. 2. 1903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

H0 MODEL.

UNITE STATES Patented August 2, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS H. RICHARDS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIG-NOR TO THE STANLEY RULE & LEVEL COMPANY, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATIONOF CONNECTICUT.

FRAME I OR lVllTEFi-BOXES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,794, dated August 2, 1904.

Application filed October 2, 1903.

To a, whom it may (mncern:

Be it known that I, FRANcIs H. RICHARDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Frames for Mitcr- Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to and has for an ob ject to provide an improved and eflicient frame for a miter-box to overcome the many errors and weaknesses found in the miter-box frames heretofore used.

' A miter-box may be regarded as a tool to be carried from place to place by the workman and to be taken wherever it may be required and there used, thus frequently subjecting it to harsh treatment and exposing it to blows which have a tendency to break it or distort it if not properly constructed. The frame, owing to the portable character of the box, mustbe made sufficiently light to permit it to be readily handled and carried.

It is one of the objects of the present improvement to provide a frame for the organization specified and which shall have such construction and such a distribution of material throughout the different portions of the frame that a relatively high degree of stability will be obtained with the use of a minimum amount of material, usually cast-iron, so that the miter-box has a relatively large capacity, is of rigid and reliable construction, and at the same time may be made light enough to permit it to be readily carried about by the workman and at the same time provide for all of the attachments and features of operation necessary in such mechanisms.

Many of the frames for miter-boxes as here- 4 tofore constructed have the back and bottom or fioorseparate and are not well organized to position the work. My improved frame,

Serial No. 175,425. (No model.)

The frame comprises a bed-plate or bottom frame and a transverse back plate integrally 5 connected therewith along one edge of the bottom to position the work. The back plate will have a central opening through which the saw passes in the assembled miter-box.

A beam or frame to carry saw-guides will be swiveled. to the frame, so that the line of the axis of such swivel will lie in the plane of the face of the back and will lie in the plane of the path of movement of the saw, such plane of movement being determined by the guid- 6 ing devices carried by the beam-arm or frame. The front end of the beam-arm may be guided by an apron extending beyond the floor of the frame. The apron may carry index or bolt holes to cooperate with an index or bolt carried by the beam for locating or securing the beam at its adjusted positions and may also carry friction-faces for cooperating with friction clamps and faces carried by the beam.

It will therefore be necessary in the structure 7c of the floor-frame or bed-plate of such frame to make provision for properly supporting the apron and for receiving the strains which may be brought upon it in the adjustment of the beam to the chosen position and in withstanding the shocks and strains of the work and accidental blows which may be received by it or by the parts carried and controlled thereby. The various parts of the frame will be so placed that they will withstand the use and abuse to which they may be subjected and that by the employment of a minimum amount of metal the various parts may be so regulated as to thickness that a substantially uniform thickness will prevail throughout the entire 5 structure, so that upon the cooling of the casting internal strains will not be developed, which strains, as is well known, not only buckle the casting in the first instance, but frequently develop while the same is being machined to 9 produce true faces, and such development of strains frequently becomes apparent only after one or more faces have been finished, which will necessitate refinishing or machining such faces. For carrying out the purposes set forth an are or segment is made to project forwardly from the frame and is connected with the forward bar or rib thereof by means of a relatively thin plate, this plate being located where the arc joins the main portion of the bottom frame.

An important feature of the improved frame consists in the combination, with the rear bar or rail of the bottom frame and with the forward bar or rail thereof, of a series of transverse bars located especially for transmitting the strains which arise in the use of this class of mechanisms, so as to sustain the work in a proper manner and to distribute the stresses by transmitting the same from one point to another, and thereby tending to preserve the frame against breakage. The ends of the frame are fitted to receive the legs, and at the rear of the frame a short distance from each thereof is a projecting seat having a stockgage. The strain of the work will be received as upon the felly and hub of a wheel. The

- hub will support the aXle of the working member. The beam and the rim of the apron will receive the strain of the work at that "end of such Working member. The strain in sawing is generally received by the machine from front to back, as the working stroke of the saw is its forward stroke. In whatever position of adjustment the saw is the strain of such forward motion is from the rim toward the hubon a line with a spoke or at an angle thereto meeting the line of the spoke at the axis of the hub.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification a form of my invention is illustrated, wherein- Figure 1 is a perspective view therof, showing in dotted lines working parts which may be mounted thereon. Fig. 2 is a top view.

Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line of 3 3 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrow.-

Fig. 4. is a longitudinal section on the line of 4 4 of Fig. 2 looking toward the back. Fig. 5 is a back view, and Fig. 6 is a cross-section on the line of 6 6 of Fig. 2, some of the parts which may be supported by the frame being shown in dotted lines as in Fig. l.

The frame is shown as comprising a bedplate orbottom framing (designated in a general way by 6) and a back plate 7, integrallyconnected therewith along one edge of said bottom plate, said back plate having in the present instancein its central position an opening 8, through which the saw will pass in the assembled miter-box. The walls or faces 50 of such opening are shown at an acute angle to the constitutes a continuous flange upon the bot-.

tom frame, such back sweeping downwardly below the bottom at 11 in the region of such opening and again sweeplng downwardly at 12 in the region of openings 13, which openings are adjacent to lugs 14, protruding rearwardly of the back plate, and are organized to carry guides or gages 15 for the work. The back rail 9 of the floor-frame carries a hub 16 for supporting or carrying a swivel arm or beam 17, which will carry saw-guides 18, such parts in the present instance being shown in dotted lines for the purpose of illustrating more clearly the uses of the frame. The hub is shown as having a screw-thread socket 19, a concentric depression 20, and two guide-faces 21 22, concentrically surrounding the same. Part of such hub protrudes rearwardly of the back plate at 23, and a portion in front of such back plate may be cored-out at 24 to reduce the mass of metal to facilitate uniform cooling of the casting. The bot: tom framing member has a front rail 25 and end rails 26, joining such front rail to the back rail 9. The front rail also has upon it an apron or segment 27, protruding toward the front thereof and which in the present instance is shown as being composed of a solid mass of metal. The apron or segment is in the present instance shown as comprising an arc of about one hundred and twenty degrees, whereby in a is carried by ribs or struts 30 31 32, ex-

tendingfrom the front rail to the hub and having flanges 33 running into the segment adjacent to each end and into its central portion 34, which is a thin plate. The face portions 35 of the ribs run into the front bar 25, and the flanges 33 of the same run into the plate 34 of the apron, which is below the face of the flooring-frame. Ribs or struts 36 37 connect the front rail to the back rail at the region where the ends of the apron commencetheir protrusion therefrom and in their projection from the front rail to the back rail beartoward the adjacent end rail. Such struts 36 37, with the segment, may be regarded as the felly or half a wheel, with the hub heretofore described for its hub, and the intermediate portions of the back rail between the hub and the juncture of the struts 36 37 as two spokes of the wheel, and strut 32, running at right angles from the front rail to the hub,- as a spoke and the pair of struts 3O 31, each running to the hub from the juncture of the edge of the segment with the point of the forward protrusion 28 of-the front rail, also. as spokes.

The frame is strengthened at the back through the peculiar location, form, and man- I ner of the connection of the boss or hub 16,

under which the swinging saw-guide carrier is to be supported, this being located directly below the opening 8 inthe rear wall of the frame and being connected with the bed-plate portion forward of therear end and joins the rib 32, extending across to connect with the segment, reinforces and strengthens the frame at said opening in such manner as to provide for the requisite rigidity and stability. The hub or boss is also sustained by the transverse ribs or members 30 31, which prevent torsional strain from being applied to the rib 32 and distribute the strain from torsion of the saw-guide support and prevent the bending of the frame incident to such tendency. Into whatever position the saw is swung there will be a substantially direct framing member from the hub to the front of the frame and members on each side to prevent twisting and withstand the twisting of the saw-guide frame. i The flooring-frame also has at each end a strut or tie-rod 38, running from the front to the back, but bearing toward the ends at its front end. i 1

The transverse ribs 38 connect the forward corner of the bottom frame directly with the seat or projection 14, by which the gage 15 is carried, andthis is again connected, through another rib 36 or 37, directly with the forward rail at the point where it joins the segment.

The lengths of the various saw positions overthe floor vary as the saw is swung from i one position to another; but the supports for the saw-guide-carrying arm afford constant support to it. i

The general aspect of thisframe when stood upon its back and viewed from the top is that of a trussed bridge, the lines being somewhat distorted,but the general appearance retained, with all of the efiicacious results of such organizations present in this structure. The working points are connected together bydiagonal members, together comprising atrussed floor. Each of the tie-bars or struts has a flat face 35, which flat faces, together with the faces 35 of the front and rear beams and the end beams, constitute the floor of the machine. Each strut 36, 37, and 38 is also provided with a dependent flange 33, whereby without the addition of a solid mass of metal the same will be stiffened and strengthened. It will be seen by reference to Fig. 3 that the flanges upon the struts 38 are only present in a marked degree in the central portion, sloping away where such struts run into other frame members, from which may be gained sufiicient support without having such flanges run into these members, thus keeping the thickness of the metal uniform throughout the struc' ture, and will not place amass of metal where it will not be desired and where the presence of such a mass would have a tendency to cause unequal cooling of the casting.

The frame will besupported in'praetice by legs, a convenient form of which is illustrated,

(designated in a general way by 40,) which may each have a body portion 41, a front leg 42, and a back leg 43. owing to the work required of such legs, the front legs will be longer than the rear legs and will project farther forward, so as to support the apron and the pressure of the working of the machine. In practice 'it may be desirable to make the legs of malleable iron, so that they may withstand whatever abuses they may be subjected to. secured to the frame by suitable screws passing through holes in the body portion and entering tapped holes in the frame. In the present instance to bring the point where such screw-threads may be placed as near as possible to the body portion of the leg the flooring of the frame is depressed, as at 4A, making a pair ofhubs at each end, which will be screw-threaded, as at 4:5, for the reception of the leg-screws. By this means screws do not have to be used of a length sufficient to reach transmitted through two transverse members 26 and 38 of the frame to the back, thereby providing for a truss comprised within the frame considered as a whole, such truss being locatedand adapted to materially aid in sustaining any stress which may be applied to the frame through a blow or pressure upon the leg or upon the frame adjacent thereto.

The back member of the frame is shown as having a series of flat finger-like ribs 46 upon it interspersed with depressions 47, thus making a structure wherein a smaller amount of metal will have to be removed upon machining the. structure than if the same were plain,

and to prevent an increase of thickness and an irregularity of thickness owing to the presence of such lingers the back of'such back plate will be provided with indentationsS at the region of each of the fingers, so that a uniformity of thickness may be had.

The miter-box frame herein shown is a practicable and feasible structure which may be cast in a single piece. The table or body portion of the frame is, as has heretofore been stated, cast in a single piece and has integral with it a thin back plate, divided in the present instance at its central portion by a saw passage-way, which saw passage-way has beveled or chamfered edges, and to permit the saw to have a movement so as to come within a plane at an angle of thirty degrees of the plane of the back and witha nar row opening the walls of such opening must necessarily be at an angle of about thirty degrees from the front face of the back plate, which makes a very thin portion of metal! In the present instance,

The legs may be If the under portion were thick and if the various ribs and their supporting-flanges converged into a solid hub at the region of the opening in the back plate, after the metal was poured into the mold the uneven cooling which would result would draw and distort .the back plate, so that one side of it might not lie in the same plane that the other would lie in after it was drawn from the mold. This accentuates an important feature of the present invention.

The miter-box frame herein shown is capable of being cast with asaw-opening through a thin back plate and having walls at a sharp angle to the face of the plate, and the distribution of the metal is such that in casting the frame it will come from the mold with all the parts in their proper normal condition and free from deformation through unequal cooling immediately following the casting of the frame.

By means of the peculiar truss organization, taken in connection with the relative locations of the different principal portions of the frame considered as a whole, a very superior result is attained, the difliculties of successfully manufacturing such a frame are greatly reduced, and for a frame of given size unusual strength and reliability is secured with a minimum liability of accident or breakage, and all this with the use of such a relatively small amount of iron as to make even the larger sizes of the miter-box mechanisms entirely portable and convenient for use.

Certain features illustrated herein are claimed in my copending applications, Serial Nos. 175,421 and 17 5,4:26, filed October 2, 1903.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. A miter-box frame comprising a portion to position the work in one direction; a flooring portion to position the work in another direction and integral therewith; a hub adapted to carry a beam carried by said flooring portion at the region of its union with said former positioning portion and havinga bore and a face upon a plane transverse to said bore; and a segmental apron consisting of a massive body protruding from the other side thereof constituting a segment of about onethird of a circle occupying a plane parallel to said face and having a segmental flange concentric with the bore of said hub to guide and support the beam.

2. A miter-box frame comprising a trussed bottom and having some of the struts of the truss arranged in the form of half a wheel; a member carried. thereby to position the work upon such trussed bottom; a hub carried by the bottom adjacent to the positioning member and constituting the hub of such wheel formation; and an apron consisting of a solid mass of metal carried by and extending beyond the other side of such bottom in an arc of about one-third of a circle and having a segmental flange concentric to said hub and constituting the felly of the wheel formation.

3. A miter-box frame embodying a hub to support a swivel-beam; a back portion in two divisions having a space therebetween on each side of the line of the axis of the hub; said back portion being to position the work and said space to permit the passage of a saw on a plane in which said line lies; a floor-frame rigid therewith; an apron carried thereby; a segmental flange upon the apron concentric to the axis of the hub; a stay or tie bar from each end of the segment to the hub; a stay or tie bar from each end thereof toward the end and joining the back and a stay or tie bar from the front to the back projecting toward the iub.

4. A miter-box comprising front and rear bars, the front bar consisting of part of a segment, a central hub in the rear bar, braces radiating from the hub to the segment, diagonal braces extending from the end of the segment to the rear bar, oppositely-inclined braces from the region of the juncture of the last-mentioned braces on the rear bar adjacent thereto to the front bar, and end bars connecting the front and rear bars.

5. A miter-box frame embodying front and rear framing-beams; end beams connecting the same; legs carried by the frame and projecting forwardly and rearwardly thereof and se cured thereto in the region of the end framing-beams; and a transverse rib connecting the front member at a region comparatively immediate to the front leg to the rear member at a region comparatively remote from the rear leg.

6. A frame for a miter-box having framing members arranged in a parallelogram; legs carried by the corners thereof and transversely located relative to the longer side of the frame; a hub carried by one side of the frame to carry a saw-guiding device; a guide-surface and clamping-rail carried by the other side thereof; a series of ribs organized to receive the direct thrust of the working of the saw; and adjacent ribs organized to sustain the same against rotation, the back side having a flange projecting partly above and partly below the same an opening through the flange above the framing member and the flange dropping below the same and compensating therefor.

7. In a miter-box frame the combination with a front beam; a rear beam; an end beam uniting the same; a leg upon the front beam at the juncture thereof with the end beam; a gage-shelf at the rear of the rear beam; a transverse rib connecting the front beam at the region of the front leg with the rear beam at the region of such shelf; and a transverse rib connecting the rear beam at the region of such shelf with the front beam at a region remote from the leg.

8. In a miter-box frame the combination with a gage-supporting shelf or lug, of a beam carrying the same; a rear leg supporting the beam; and a flange below the rear beam at the region of such leg and shelf.

9. A miter-box frame comprising a front and a rear beam united by an end beam, and a leg at the juncture of the rear and end beams; agage-supporting shelf or lug carried by the rear beam adjacent to the leg; and a flange below such rear beam at the region of the lu 10. A miter-box frame comprising a front and a rear beam united by an end beam, and a leg at the juncture of the rear and end beams; a gage-supporting shelf or lug carried by the rear beam adjacent to the leg; and a flange below such rear beam at the. region of the lug; and a flange above the rear beam at such region.

11. A miter-box frame comprising a front and rear beam united by an end beam, and a leg at the juncture of the rear and end beams; a gage-supporting shelf or lug carried by the rear beam adjacent to the leg; and a flange below such rear beam at the region of the lug; and a flange above the rear beam at such region and having a passage-way therethrough.

12. A miter-box frame with a clear, level, unobstructed work-surface from end to end and from front to back and having connected front and rear bars, the front bar consisting in part of a segment, a middle front portion of the table projecting well out into such segment but not extending to the ends thereof so as to cover the scale indications, the front end portions of the table standing back from said middle front portion, the lower face of the segment extending back to within the front of such end portions, the organization being such that a saw-guide carrier pivoted thereto will lie wholly below the table with its front saw-guidea greater radial distance from the center of the segment than the curve of such segment so that such guide may be swung to either end of the segment-rail before contact of the front guide with the front end portion of the table.

13. A frame for a miter-box comprising a front and a rear framing member; end framing members uniting the front and back framing members; a plate in the nature of. a flange carried by the rear framing member and protruding above the same and having a central opening or passage-way for a saw; a hub located below such framing member and in the region of such passage-way and adapted to carry a frame for carrying and guiding a saw; said flange sweeping down below the rear framing member at the region of such passage-way and hub and sweeping again below the same at the region of the ends; said hub protruding backwardly of the flange; a pair of rearwardly-projecting shelf-brackets on the rear framing member near each end; a continuation of the rear flange near such brackets in the nature of a downward sweep; and a passage-way through the u pwardly-projecting part of the flange adjacent to each bracket; a sector carried by the front framing member and having a face adapted to guide the saw-carrying frame; a rib connecting the back framing member to the front framing member at the junction points of the sector therewith; a rib connecting the hub with the front framing member at the central portion of the sector; and ribs connect ing the hub with the front framingmember at about the point of the juncture of the ends of the sector therewith; a pair of legs at each end projecting forwardly and rearwardly; and a rib connecting the front framingmemher at the region of the front leg with the back framing member at a point in the region of the shelf-brackets; the five first-mentioned ribs serving to support the frame against the strain of the saw-carrying frame and the latter ribs, together with the adjacent ends con stituting trusses serving to sustain blows to or upon the legs and upon the shelf-brackets; and the back plate and its flange continuations serving to impart uniform rigidity to the structure.

14. A frame for a miter-box comprising a back framing member; a front framing member connected therewith; a flange disposed upon the back framing member and located thereabove to constitute a work-positioning member; a saw-opening through the central part thereof and a downward sweep of the flange adjacent to such saw-opening; and a downward sweep to such flange below the said framing member adjacent to each end thereof.

15. A frame for a miter-box comprising a bed-plate of comparatively thin metal and having numerous openings leaving back, front and end beams, and ribs connecting the back to the front; aflange upon the back portion of such plate and constituting in part aback plate; a saw-opening therethrough; a downward sweep on the flange below the plate at the region of such saw-opening; downwardlyprojecting flanges at the ends of such plate; and downward sweeps of the main flange eontiguous to such end flanges; a downward flange upon the front of such plate; a thin plate protruding therefrom; a sector carried by such plate and having a flat face; a hub carried by the lower part of the central portion'of the rear of the frame, and constituting with said flat face a guide for a saw-carrying frame; and a down Wardly-depending flange upon each of the portions of the floor-plate constituting ribs.

Signed at Nos. 9 to 15 Murray street, New York, N. Y., this 19th day of September, 1903.

FRANCIS H. RICHARDS.

WVitnesses: l

CHAS. LYON RUssELL, Faun. J. Donn.

IIO 

